How can the UK maintain its influence on the world stage - and in doing so protect the UK’s security? Filmed during Boris Johnson’s tenure as Foreign Secretary, we meet Sir Simon Macdonald (pictured), the Permanent Under-Secretary and chief civil servant at The Foreign Office. As politicians come and go, civil servants remain. In this first film, we follow the diplomats as they wrestle with a series of crises and challenges covering Burma to Russia. Michael Waldman gains access to the United Nations in New York, as world leaders gather for the special General Assembly week.